No Kovalchuk for Isles

Now that the Islanders have dropped out of the Kovalchuk sweepstakes, you have to wonder who is in it besides the Devils. Perhaps the LA Kings are still involved, and were just posturing when they said they were out.

I’ve been getting Carped since last night. and I finally get a post through, and I’m Carped

Anyway, Charlie, you said “It just seems kind of dumb to me to wish that your team is lousy”. The team is lousy. It’s the same team on paper minus Girardi and Staal for now.

Other teams have improved, or addressed some desperate needs. NYR has signed a guy who’ll play 4 minutes or less per game, and probably be a healthy scratch often.

Look, If NYR is winning, as a fan I’ll be happy, and root for them, but at the same time, if they’re losing, then good. I’m only 20, I can afford a few bad seasons, but I would prefer a better reward [1st overall pick] instead of a pick that can go either way.

Long time no post, Boneheads! Finally decided to look at the comments today, and saw Carp’s reference about Girardi.

Can’t say he’s much to write home about, and I don’t mind the Rangers keeping him, but he made 1.6 mil last season, and is set to earn salary this season. IMHO, he’s never going to be worth more than 1.5 mil per season.

The fact that girardi is on our first d pair says a lot about how lousy our d corps really is. To me girardi is nothing special, he isn’t horrible, but for 2 or 3 mil, there are other guys I would rather have on d that are team needs (a rough physical hard hitting crease clearing d man or two), not another vanilla d man. Just an opinion.

I dont really think they were ‘in it’ in the first place. They made some calls then floated it out. win win for them. Fan base gets excited and then they can use the ‘see nobody wants to come to this dump’ excuse when trying to get leverage for the new arena to be built. We have already heard multiple times that they offered more money to FA but the declined to go there.

Carp, I understand the team would likely eb made worse with Giradi’s immediate departure, however, I do not like that the team is trying to commit to him in the long-term because I do not think he is that good of a player. I would rather they bring in a guy for one or two years as a place holder for other players.

Some defensemen I would like instead of Girardi that could be had without breaking the bank:

Doodie
I agree with your statement, but not really anyone on your list except exelby. I think his hypothetical vacant spot needs to be filled by a physical rough player and that type of player only. No puck moving pp specialists that play a positionally sound game!!!!

Here is kind of a cool link. It let’s you see team salary cap hits per position…(mind you some rosters are not complete yet with players under contracr ie only 4 d men with a 10mil cap hit) the rangers of course are bottom 3rd in d men (same as quality) with 4 under contract, top 3rd in forwards (not same as quality), and number one in goalie (softies not included).

Won’t the Rangers have to pay Kovi or any top UFA more to play here as compared to a team like Pittsburgh, Washington, Los Angeles et al.? These are either youthful, established teams or youthful and quickly improving teams that have excellent chances to go deep in the playoffs. Compared to the Rangers who are most likely going to struggle just to make the playoffs. Wouldn’t Boogaard have taken less to play for Pittsburgh etc. and won’t the Rangers have to pay Kovi more to play here where his expectations of a championship are diminished?

Id take Girardi back at the right price and for only 2 years. 4 years is too much and we are supposed to have some yound defencemen on the rise. We also should have never let Mara go in the first place

Maybe Sather can find another team that is as enthralled with Girardi as he is and make a trade. MSG probably thinks that he is special because he was undrafted and signed as a free agent, so he has exceeded expectations more than anybody on the team except for Lundqvist perhaps. With these defensive prospects the Rangers keep drafting, signing Girardi long term would be a mistake, since I’m fairly certain that they won’t get rid of Redden, not this year at least.

hey Carp,
i put up the joe lapointe link
(nice to know we think alike…at times)

as far as Girardi,
don’t hate the guy but it wasn’t just a matter of him having to cover up for redden but he was up and down when paired with Staal as well.

it was supposed to be a year when he was either going to break out or at the very least be a more steady presence and he rarely was. and don’t you think he was on the first pair for the same reason that Christensen was on the first line?

(man, i sound like i’m writing sather’s script at the hearing)

i wouldn’t mind keeping him but it’s according to the price and options. for example, could it be better to have a cheaper shut down veteran dman with Staal that would allow Eric to move up in the offensive zone without as many worries?

You can trade a player who elects salary arbitration theoretically but as a practical matter you can’t because the arbitration goes forward if the new team can’t sign him and the new team is at a disadvantage in the hearing as not having a first-hand case to chew the player’s demands down.

Does anyone think he’s busting his butt this offseason so he doesnt get demoted or is he jsut sitting by the beach with his wife not caring casue he’s getting paid 6mil no matter what.

I’d love it if Redden Showed up at camp with a big nasty go-tee, beefed up with a couple more punds, and hitting everythign and everyone

I knwo its never goign to happen, but you’d think even a high paid proffessional athlete has some self respect to want to get back to what he once was

Either way its a win win for us: come to camp same as last year, go straight to hartford free the cap space up, Come to camp with a chip on your shoulder, nasty attitude, in better condition, earn your spot & some of your paycheck

The Mouth: With Staal and Girardi not signed I think the Rangers brass minds would explode if they had to think too hard about squeezing Kovy in.

Maybe Kovy is the main reason both Staal & Girardi are not signed yet? Think about it. Rangers are negotiating with Kovalchuk to give him what he wants (and what Devs won’t give him) and then will ask both “D” for “home discount” ;)

What is missing from this discussion of ‘first line’ defense is the fact that just because you play in on the first line doesn’t mean you’re one of the two best players on defense. Girardi plays with Staal and plays well with him but he’s not the second best d-man on the team.

It’s Rozsival, much to fans chagrin. As Carp has pointed out, the coaches like and rely on him. You need depth on D and Rozsival provides that. Frankly, I thought he was better than Staal through the second half of the season.

I used to see many snide comments about Mara, and he’s too this or that, or not good at something else, but the bottom line was that he was one of our best defensemen, game in game out all the time he was here.

I was amazed that he was shunted off and Girardi kept.

Mara was a professional NHL defenseman, who knew his position, his job, and he brought the work ethic and grit to the job. He stood tall for his team mates, and he covered his position, and on the rare instances when the bench genius allowed Rozy to come off the ice on PP, he did well at the blue line.

One thing that he was superb at was little noted nor rarely commented on – his handling of fast skating, clever handed forwards like for instance Kovalev in his own zone. He didn’t stand and poke at the puck or give him a one time shove and then skate away…he skated with him shoulder to shoulder, with his stick extended into the line of action, and stayed with him wherever he went. This usually prevented that forward from getting off either a shot or a pass, and eventually he ran out of ice room. Find me a Ranger D who has mastered this technique today.

I’ll never stand still for criticism of Mara, while this team is in the disarray it is now. ( And Morris is another one who should have been kept.)

No kidding around – I did hear, from someone who hears stuff but is not necessarily a huge insider – that the Rangers are actually in on it and are offering 5 years at $8 million/year to Kovalchuk. Make of it what you want, and not sure how they’d pull it off. This is not what I would consider a great inside source but also not Eklund either, just someone who’s been right a bunch of times.

I liked Mara. The Tyutin trade was horrible. Girardi has some balls wanting 3.5 a year… he should get 2.5 ad not a penny more. He is a top 6 D-man on most teams in this league but while we’re stuck with the R&R twins along with 2 rookies last season, he became a top 2 D-man. If this team continues to build from within and get rid of one of the R&R twins, he becomes a top 6 by the time the contract he wants is over.

Any chance the Rangers could sign a guy like Max Afinogenov? I know he had an up-and-down few years in Buffalo, but he performed well in Atlanta, and he can skate pretty well. I think he could help the team, and wouldn’t come at too high of a price. He’d probably help in the skills competition, too.

just let girardi walk…
sign exelby, he at least hits..OR try to trade for Bieska, Vancouver is desperate to dump some dmen
Think if Kovalchuk signs with NJ…all that means is they can’t afford Parise next year…and Parise would look perfect in Rangers blue…

“OK, if there are “cap-geeks” out there, please explain in simple terms how the Devils can sign Kovy when they don’t have that much cap room.”

The rumored deal is 7 years for 60 million, which works out to about 8.57 per. They currently have about 2.9 million in space, plus the 10% offseason allowance granting them an additional 5.9 million. That gives them 8.8 to work with during the offseason. That allows them to sign Kovalchuk now.

As for fixing their cap before the regular season, they need to dump about 5.6 million before the season starts. They have already waived Pandolfo, clearing 2.5 once the . This leaves a need for 3.1 million in space. At that point, it becomes about salary dumping. I imagine Rolston becomes a trade chip or they demote Salvador and trade Langenbrunner or Zubrus.

Blueshirt in Paris
July 6th, 2010 at 11:01 am
Seamus,
Regarding you post in the other thread.
Yeah those stats cant really tell you if the game was already over at that point…and although I agree with your assesment to a point, I think it would really average out over a whole season.
interestingly, last year Malkin has the same ratio of taken/drawn as Avery does.
interestingly (but should come to nobody’s surprise) a few seasons ago Avery drew twice as many penalties as he took. twentieth in the entire league, 6th drawn per 60min.
And even more so, a few years ago Crosby led the league in drawn per 60 by a huge margin. Last year he was +60th and almost equal to his taken per 60; I think it is catching up to him.

Sather and Cam Hope are probably just going to walk into the arbitration meeting and go “look, the guy spends more time on his knees then a mid west school girl on spring break in Cancun. 2.3 million. tops”.

Girardi played a little bit with Redden last year, which is tough as all have pointed out, he also played with staal sometimes even strength, but on the PK most often and they did a great job, one constant for the rangers the last few years (a good PK), but for a good portion of the season girardi was paired with del zotto, an offensive minded rookie defenseman, who played great for us at times, but, like any rookie, had some bumps too and was caught pinching at wrong times or was leaving his d partner out to try, which is girardi.. i agree that girardi could have played better last year but he could hav played worse too, he is better than what people are giving him credit for on here, im not gona say waht hes worth bc i dont know what hes worth, and just about every nhl player is overpaid at least somewhat, 3.5mill is probly too much but with comparisons to other similar defenseman 3.5 or a little less may be what he gets.. him and staal will be apart of this defense for years to come, along with del zotto, mcdonagh, as the younger guys progress i think girardi will be more of a 4th defenseman, a stay home guy, and hes not bad at that, and then when rozsival is done in 2 years maybe there will be room for a nice free agent, whether it be a shutdown guy or a puck mover, depending on how the younger guys pan out…

I wonder how much of the Girardi bashing is because the kid didn’t jump into the Gaborik fight?

Let’s be honest, Gabby picked that fight himself and got his butt kicked. I’m not saying Girardi was right to stand there and watch, but I don’t think a decent young player needs to be run out of town either for Gabby’s brain fart.
No doubt Girardi learned the hard way.

In my opinion he’s a serviceable defenseman. Is he a top pair guy, no. Is he a total bum, no. The problem (like so many rangers) is his soon-to-be-new contract. At $500K he’s a bargain. At $3 mil, he’s overpaid.

If the arbitration award is ridiculous, which I doubt it will be, wave goodbye. But that’s a lot of D minutes to replace, and I don;t see who’s gonna step up to do it. But I can’t blame him or any athlete who tries to get as much as he can. That’s the business.

its exactly why so many people on here r trying to run girardi out of ny or are ok with girardi not bein here, bc he didnt jump in for gaborik, not because of his play, regardless of what people say.. he messed up, he felt terrible, maybe if every game wasnt so huge for the rangers and they could considerably solidify a playoff spot before the last day of the season then maybe girardi woudlnt have thunk twice about stepping in, but he knew how important wins were and thats waht probly made him not step in, either way he should have stepped in but it shouldnt be the reason for him not being a ranger the next few years, imho

Gilroy should be playing wing. he has more skating and puck skills than many of the Ranger wingers, and he was a forward until he changed to d in college simply because that was the only spot open there.

it would be dumb to not use him at wing. he clearly has the skills to play there and it is his original position anyway

Langenbruener is not a 1st line center. He is drury plus size. Good leader. Good penalty killer. Good two way center. Not the playmaker the rangers need. Why would the devs trade their captain to the rangers? Doesn’t make sense